Magali Fontaine, MD, PhD

Education

1981                                        Lycee Hoche-Versailles, BA (Baccalaureate)

1989                                        University René Descartes Paris, Cochin Port-Royal Medical School, MD

2000                                        University of Illinois at Chicago, Ph.D. in Transplant Pathology

 Post Graduate Education and Training    

1990 - 1991                             Surgical Research Fellow, Oncology Division

                                                Adoptive Immunotherapy Using Tumor Infiltrating Lymphocytes

                                                Brigham & Women's Hospital, Boston, Harvard Medical School

1991 - 1993                             Surgical Research Fellow, Transplantation Division, Tissue Engineering,

                                                The Children's Hospital, Boston, Harvard Medical School

1993 - 1994                             Internship in General Surgery, University of Illinois, Chicago         

1994 - 1995                             PGY II in General Surgery

                                                Metropolitan Group Hospitals Residency, Chicago

1995 - 1999                             Residency in Pathology (AP, CP)

                                                University of Illinois College of Medicine

1999 - 2000                             Fellowship in Transfusion Medicine, Mayo Clinic, Rochester

 Personal Statement

My research interest is at the frontier of transfusion medicine and cellular therapies. My contributions to the field of transfusion medicine are in the management of the blood supply chain and prevention of transfusion adverse events. Transfusion of blood products is beneficial for hemato-oncologic patients but can lead to serious immunologic reactions such as alloimmunization and immunomodulation. In order to improve the management of these reactions, my laboratory studies the activation profiles of blood leukocyte subsets, in patients with or without a history of transfusion reactions. Platelet and red blood cell interactions are explored as playing  a role as well in regulating leukocyte activation during the blood  transfusion process.  We use the standard immunohematology indirect antiglobulin test, based on red blood cell agglutination, as well as flow cytometry based methods, to characterize the expression of red cell surface antigens during erythropoiesis and to test the function of these glycoprotein antigens in leukocyte and platelet interaction.

1. Fontaine MJ, Shih H, Schubert R, Wong W, Andrews J, Jeng M, Tirouvanziam R. Leukocyte and plasma activation profiles in chronically transfused pediatric patients with a history of allergic reactions. Transfusion 2017, 57(11):2639-2648. PMID: 28880378
2. Fontaine MJ. Role of Complement in patients with autoimmune hemolytic anemia and platelet transfusion refractoriness. Trans Clin Biol. 2019, 26(3):152-154. PMID: 31277985
3. Fontaine MJ, Webster J, Gomez S, Pham TD, Goodnough LT, Galel SA. How do I implement an automated screen for high-titer ABO antibody as an inventory management tool for ABO plasma-incompatible platelets? Transfusion 55(12):2783-9. PMID: 26448376
4. Fontaine MJ, Chung YT, Erhun F, Goodnough LT. Age of blood as a limitation for transfusion: Potential impact on blood inventory and availability. Transfusion 2010; 50(10):2233-9. PMID: 20497519

Positions and Employment

1990 - 1991                 Fellow, Immunology/Oncology Division, Brigham & Women’s Hospital,  Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA

1991 - 1993                 Fellow, Tissue Engineering Division, Children's Hospital, Harvard Medical School,

1993 - 1995                 Intern, Department of Surgery, University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC), Chicago, IL

1995 - 1999                 Pathology Resident/Ph.D. Studies in Cell Transplantation

                                   Clinical Instructor, Department of Pathology, UIC, Chicago, IL

1999 - 2000                 Fellow, Transfusion Medicine Division, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN

2000 - 2003                 Clinical Instructor, Department of Pathology, Transfusion Medicine Division, MUSC, Charleston, SC

2003 - 2004                 Assistant Professor of Pathology, MUSC, Charleston, SC

2004 - 2013                 Assistant Professor of Pathology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA

                                   Associate Director Transfusion Service, Assistant Director of the Blood Center

2013 - 2018                 Associate Professor of Pathology and Medicine, University of Maryland School of Medicine

2018 - present             Professor of Pathology and Medicine,

                                   Medical Director of Transfusion Services, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD

Other Experience and Professional Memberships

2010 - 2013               Chair, Committee of the AABB Standards for Cellular Therapies, American Association of Blood Banks, AABB, Bethesda, Maryland.

2013 -  present            Chair, Novel Cell Therapies and Product Development Subsection of the AABB. 

2013 - 2015                 Board Member, California Blood Bank Society

2014 -  2017                Chair, AABB Cell Therapy Education Program Unit

2014 - present             Member, Scientific Biomedical Excellence for Safer Transfusion (BEST) Collaborative

2017 -  2019                Scientific Program Chair, AABB Annual Meeting Education Committee

Honors

1989                                                   Graduated in Medicine with Honors (06/28/1989) Summa cum Laude

2009,2011                                           Excellence in Teaching, Pathology, Stanford University School of Medicine

2009                                                    Faculty Mentor Award for Post Doctoral Fellows in Immunology, Stanford University

2012                                                    Stanford Leadership Development Advanced Program (nominated)

 1. Cellular Therapies

1. Fontaine MJ, Schloo B, Jenkins R, Uyama S, Hansen L, Vacanti JP. Human hepatocyte transplantation using cell polymer constructs. Journal of Pediatric Surgery. 1995; (30):56-60. PMID:7722831
2. Davis NE, Rothkopf LN, Mirsoian A, Kojic N, Kaplan D, Barron AE, Fontaine MJ. Enhanced function of pancreatic islets co-encapsulated with ECM proteins and mesenchymal stromal cells in a silk scaffold. Biomaterials 33(28):6691-7. PMID: 22766242
3. Hamilton D, Shih H, Schubert RA, Michie SA, Kaplan D, Fontaine MJ. A silk-based encapsulation platform for pancreatic islet transplantation improves islet function in vivo. Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine. 2017; 11(3):887-95 PMID:25619945
4. Ashari N, Pang HW, McLenithan J, Simon T, Xiong Y, Coburn JM, Bromberg J, Kaplan D, Fontaine MJ. Silk biomaterial improves islet cell function and modulates cell surface Glut2 expression. Cellular Immunology 2018, 329:10-16 PMID:29661473

My contributions to the field of cellular therapy are a continuation of my post-doctoral training spent at Harvard Medical School, where I was mentored by pioneers in tissue engineering, Drs. Langer and Vacanti, and with whom I optimized new techniques of hepatocyte transplantation for end stage liver diseases in neonates. I then moved to the University of Illinois in Chicago (UIC) to complete a combined residency in surgery and clinical pathology with a PhD degree in pancreatic islet transplantation for patients with type 1 diabetes (T1D) and contributed to the development of the islet cell transplant program at UIC. Most recently, I served as Chair of the National Committee on Standards for Cellular Therapies for the American Association of Blood Banks (AABB), and as the co-Chair on the Novel Cellular Therapies and Product Development Subsection for the AABB. My experience from serving on these committees and subtask force has helped me to identify knowledge and regulatory gaps that need to be filled for novel cellular therapies to succeed. These gaps are a focus of my research in the field of novel cellular therapies.

2. Mesenchymal stem cells

1. Davis NE, Hamilton D, Fontaine MJ. Harnessing the immunomodulatory and tissue repair properties of mesenchymal stem cells to restore β-cell function. Current Diabetes Reports. 12(5):612-22, 2012. PMID: 22869154
2. Fontaine MJ, Allickson J. Standards for Cellular therapy. Sixth edition. American Association of Blood Banks, Bethesda, MD.2013
3. Fontaine MJ, Shih H, Schaefer R, Pittenger M. Unraveling the mesenchymal stromal cells’ paracrine immunomodulatory effects. Transfusion Medicine Review 30(1):37-43. 2016. PMID: 26689863

In addition to my contributions described above, I have developed a strong interest in mesenchymal stromal cells (MSC)s. MSCs have been shown to support tissue repair by assisting endogenous cell function and revascularization of damaged tissue. As a Scientific Member of Best Collaborative (Biomedical excellence for safer transfusion and cellular therapy), my laboratory is contributing in developing standards for MSC culture conditions depending on the clinical application. I served as Chair of the National Committee on Standards for Cellular Therapies for the American Association of Blood Banks (AABB) and continue to propose new standards to the committee based on current developments in MSC research applications.

Complete List of Published Work in My Bibliography:

 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/myncbi/1ncHtM7O0ry/bibliography/40306738/public/?sort=date&direction=ascending

Blood Transfusion, Cellular therapy, Immunology

Fontaine MJ, Selogie E, Stroncek D, McKenna DH, Szczepiorkowski ZM, Takanashi M, Garritsen H, Girdlestone J,  Reems JA,  Biomedical Excellence for Safer Transfusion (BEST) Collaborative.Variations in Novel Cellular Therapy Products Manufacturing. Cytotherapy 2020 Jun;22(6):337-342

Fontaine MJ. Role of Complement in patients with autoimmune hemolytic anemia and platelet transfusion refractoriness. Trans Clin Biol. 2019, 26(3):152-154

Ashari N, Pang HW, McLenithan J, Simon T, Xiong Y, Coburn JM, Bromberg J, Kaplan D, Fontaine MJ. Silk biomaterial improves islet cell function and modulates cell surface Glut2 expression. Cellular Immunology 2018, 329:10-16.

Parimi N, Fontaine MJ*, Yang S, Hu PF, Li HC, Mackenzie CF, Kozar RA, Miller C,. Scalea TM, Stein DM. Blood transfusion indicators following trauma in the non-massively bleeding patient. Ann Clin Lab Sci. 2018, 48(3):279-285.

Fontaine MJ, Shih H, Schubert R, Wong W, Andrews J, Jeng M, Tirouvanziam R. Leukocyte and plasma activation profiles in chronically transfused pediatric patients with a history of allergic reactions. Transfusion 2017, 57(11):2639-2648.

Fontaine MJ, Shih H, Schaefer R, Pittenger M. Unraveling the mesenchymal stromal cells’ paracrine immunomodulatory effects. Transfusion Medicine Review 2016. 30(1):37-43

Peng Z, Pati S, Fontaine MJ, Kozar R. Lack of Species Specific Difference in Pulmonary Function When Using Mouse Versus Human Plasma in a Mouse Model of Hemorrhagic Shock. Journal of Trauma. 2016

Hamilton D, Shih H, Schubert RA, Michie SA, Kaplan D, Fontaine MJ. A silk-based encapsulation platform for pancreatic islet transplantation improves islet function in vivo. Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine. (in press)

Yabu JM, Fontaine MJ. ABO-Incompatible Living Donor Kidney Transplantation without Post-Transplant Therapeutic Plasma Exchange. Journal of Clinical Apheresis. 2015. 30(6):340-6

Fontaine MJ, Webster J, Gomez S, Pham TD, Goodnough LT, Galel SA. How do I implement an automated screen for high-titer ABO antibody as an inventory management tool for ABO plasma-incompatible platelets? Transfusion 2015. 55(12):2783-9